Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Jamie Foxx - Wish U Were Here

By the time you get this letter, I might be doing better
Its kinda hard trying to survive, in all this crazy weather
Everybody wants my number
Everybody's calling my name
But in the mist of all of this I can still hear you say
"Son walk up right and straighten your tie
You don't want one of them good jobs to pass you by
Don't act no fool, I'm watching you"
and now that you're gone, it still feels like you do, I wish
Chorus
I wish you were here
To see the things I've done
I wish you were here
You'd be so proud of your son
I wish you were here
To celebrate with me
I wish you were here
Now all of these people ask me, Is it lonely at the top
Or do I find comfort in all the things I got
Well these cars keep me moving
These planes keep me high
A million dollar home, but Im barely getting by cuz
I miss our talks, One thing you used to say
When things got hard, get down on your knees and pray
And then those walks, its just the simple things
We still do all of this, But only in my dreams, I wish
Chorus
I wish you were here
To see the things I've done
I wish you were here
You'd be so proud of your son
I wish you were here
To celebrate with me
I wish you were here
But sometimes I wonder why
why can't you still be here with me
wish God would've waited, a couple more years for you to see
Im trying to stay strong, barely holding on
I know I'll see you again
But for right now rest in peace
And when I get to heaven, first thing they'll say to me
Tell me have you seen Estelle Marie Tallie
Find out where you are
Run into your arms
Wrap your wings around me, and whisper in my ear," Well done"
Well....Well done my son, well done
Chorus
I wish you were here
To see the things I've done
I wish you were here
You'd be so proud of your son
I wish you were here
To celebrate with me
I wish you were here

Monday, January 16, 2006

Salam,
Maybe some of the Arabic web developers would like to join this effort into adding Arabic language to the list of languages in blog.comBlog.com is changing! Having started by only supporting English, we have now adopted the mission to support any language that our users ask for.If you want to join in on this saga, please drop a line at our blog.
Peace

Salam,
I need help with my palforce.com
1- I need palforce.com to pint at an introduction page that talks about me,myself and I.
2- Then should have multiple tabs, one of them is my blog, another is a page about cars that I have for sale.
3- I need a template with 3 columns and a calendar.
4- I need a nice revolving header.
Anyone who has ideas, templates, time, hints.. They are welcome to share them wiz moi :-)
Peace

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Salam,
Here is pledge that was created by Haitham Sabbah:
http://www.pledgebank.com/palestineblogs
"I will not use Blogger.com, MySpace.com, Blog.com, Spaces.MSN.com and 360.yahoo.com but only if 5 other bloggers will urge them to immediately add 'Palestine' in their list of countries!."
— Haitham Sabbah, Palestine is not on Blogs Map!
Deadline to sign up by: 30th March 2006
8 people have signed up (3 over target)
Country: Palestinian Territories
More details
Palestine is not in the country list!
I was astonished and disappointed when I didn't find my country, 'Palestine', listed in the list of countries when I was trying to update my profile in all of these services (but not limited to):
http://Blogger.comhttp://spaces.msn.comhttp://360.yahoo.comhttp://MySpace.comhttp://Blog.com
Palestinians live in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. But that does not mean that Palestine and Palestinians do not exist!
Do we know of Palestinian bloggers? Hardly any! Why? Because they can't identify themselves by country. Why not? Because these blogs services don't recognize Palestine in their country list!
Imagine you are a Palestinian blogger, and you have no choice to identify that you exist there because these blog's services don't list Palestine in their country list. Is that a denial of existence? Ignorance? Intentional or unintentional bias? We hope note. But then they should add Palestine in their country list, NOW!
Urge these blog services and all those you know of that don't list Palestine, to immediately add Palestine in their list of countries!
Send requests to:
Blogger.com Support: support@blogger.com
Blog.com Support: support@blog.com
Yahoo 360 Feedback: http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/360/cgi_feedback
Spaces.msn.com Form: http://support.msn.com/eform.aspx?produc...
Myspace.com Support: support@myspace.com
Peace

ADC Action Alert:
Ad in "The Nation" Maligns Palestinians
ADC Communicates Concerns, Will You?
http://capwiz.com/adc/issues/alert/?alertid=8371286&type=CU
Washington, DC, January 13, 2006 --This week, The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) sent a letter to "The Nation," expressing concern over an offensive and misleading ad in the January 2006 issue entitled "Arabian Fables (I)."
ADC has received many complaints regarding the extremely troubling contents of the advertisement, placed in the magazine by the Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME). The ad, which claims, "the concept of Palestinians is [a] fundamental myth," goes on to list many outlandish and false statements, such as "Palestinian Arabs were in Berlin hatching plans with Adolf Hitler for world conquest and how to kill all the Jews."
Especially outrageous is the racist implication that the Palestinians are inherently prone to violence and deception, and that there can be no peaceful or diplomatic resolution to the conflict. For example, the ad, which clearly represents a radical and bigoted approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, says Palestinians intend to "get as much land as possible carved out of Israel by 'peaceful and diplomatic means,' so as to make Israel indefensible and softened up for the final assault." To view the ad visit http://www.adc.org/PDF/ArabianFables.pdf
ADC is disturbed by the standards that "The Nation" has exercised in accepting this ad. While we strongly respect the right to free speech, ADC believes that the ad, which presents an incredibly skewed and racist perspective of Palestinians and further reinforces stereotypes of Arabs as habituated to violence, constitutes hate speech. Ads and rhetoric like this condition people to resent and be frightened of Palestinians, and to believe that there can be no peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
ADC understands that "The Nation" does not wish to infringe on the First Amendment rights of its advertisers. However, considering the continuing problems with hate crimes facing the Arab-American community, "The Nation" also has a responsibility to its readers, not to print ads that are racially offensive, and which may contribute to the worsening problem of racism and prejudice towards any ethnic group or minority, including Palestinians. After all, as mentioned in the founding prospectus, "The Nation" was founded on the principles of "bringing to the discussion of political and social questions a really critical spirit, and to wage war upon the vices of violence, exaggeration, and misrepresentation by which so much of the political writing of the day is marred."
ACTION REQUESTED:
ADC urges you to contact "The Nation" to express your concerns, and to request that the magazine reject future ads from FLAME, and other such extreme groups. Additionally, "The Nation" should issue a retraction regarding this matter.
As policy, you should also urge "The Nation" to award equivalent space to Palestinian and Arab groups who may wish to articulate their points of view on the conflict.
To Contact "The Nation" and express your concerns visit
http://capwiz.com/adc/issues/alert/?alertid=8371286&type=CUWhile you may use any or all parts of ADC’s alert, please keep in mind that original letters carry more weight. You may also contact Katrina vanden Heuvel, the Editor and Publisher of the magazine, directly at:
33 Irving Place, 8th Floor
New York, NY 10003
Tel: 212-209-5400
Fax: 212-982-9000
E-mail: letters@thenation.com_______________________________________________________________________
Celebrate ADC's 25 Years of Dedicated Service to Civil and Human Rights by:
CONTRIBUTING TO AND/OR JOINING ADC
https://www.adc.org/membership/
For more information, contact Siwar Bandar at:
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
1732 Wisconsin Ave. NW Washington, DC 20007
Tel: 202-244-2990 Fax: 202-244-7968 E-mail: media@adc.orgwww.adc.org

MARY J. BLIGE LYRICS
Be Without You
I wanna be with you, gotta be with you, need to be with you
(Oh, oh, oh, oh)
I wanna be with you, gotta be with you, need to be with you
(Oh, oh, oh, oh)
Oooo (oh, oh, oh, oh) oooo
Chemistry was crazy from the get-go
Neither one of us knew why
We didn't build nothing overnight
Cuz a love like this takes some time
People swore it off as a phase
Said we can't see that
Now from top to bottom
They see that we did that (yes)
It's so true that (yes)
We've been through it (yes)
We got real sh** (yes)
See baby we been...
Too strong for too long (and I can't be without you baby)
And I'll be waiting up until you get home (cuz I can't sleep without you baby)
Anybody who's ever loved, ya know just what I feel
Too hard to fake it, nothing can replace it
Call the radio if you just can't be without your baby
I got a question for ya
See I already know the answer
But still I wanna ask you
Would you lie? (no)
Make me cry? (no)
Do somethin' behind my back and then try to cover it up?
Well, neither would I, baby
My love is only your love (yes)
I'll be faithful (yes)
I'm for real (yes)
And with us you'll always know the deal
We've been...
Too strong for too long (and I can't be without you baby)
And I'll be waiting up until you get home (cuz I can't sleep without you baby)
Anybody who's ever loved, ya know just what I feel
Too hard to fake it, nothing can replace it
Call the radio if you just can't be without your baby
See this is real talk
I'm always stay (no matter what)
Good or bad (thick and thin)
Right or wrong (all day everyday)
Now if you're down on love or don't believe
This ain't for you (no, this ain't for you)
And if you got it deep in your heart
And deep down you know that it's true (come on, come on, come on)
Well, let me see you put your hands up (hands up)
Fellas tell your lady she's the one (fellas tell your lady she's the one, oh)
Put your hands up (hands up)
Ladies let him know he's got your love
Look him right in his eyes and tell him
We've been...
Too strong for too long (and I can't be without you baby)
And I'll be waiting up until you get home (cuz I can't sleep without you baby)
Anybody who's ever loved, ya know just what I feel
Too hard to fake it, nothing can replace it
Call the radio if you just can't be without your baby
Heeeeeeeeeeeey Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh
Heeeeeeeeeeeey Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh
I wanna be with you, gotta be with you, need to be with you
I wanna be with you, gotta be with you, need to be with you
I wanna be with you, gotta be with you, need to be with you
I wanna be with you, gotta be with you, need to be with you
I wanna be with you, gotta be with you, need to be with you

Friday, January 13, 2006

Salam,
NYCHICK had a nice blog that we all enjoyed, not only the random pictures of NYCITY but she also had a unique input on life that made a lot of us addicts to her blog.
All the sudden she disappeared, and I cant find her blog and there was no Goodbye or nothing.
I miss her and I hope she moved up to better things in life. If anyone know her abouts please drop us a line letting us know she is OK.
Peace

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Orb Networks offers a revolutionary service that sends any content in your home to another device anywhere in the world over an internet connection in realtime. Say what? Yes, it's a mouthful. The service allows you to watch a local TV program in realtime on your laptop or PDA while you are out-of-town. More advanced uses include watching shows recorded on your TiVo or listening to entire music library stored on your home computer from wherever you are in the world. The Orb software makes it possible, and the picture/sound quality was surprising good with a fast internet connection during the demo I saw.
This is one of the top products at the CES2006

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Here’s a heads up on another very important proceeding happening this week that stands to have a big impact on our legal system and the Constitution. After more than a year, the military commission hearings will resume tomorrow in Guanatanamo Bay. Avi Cover from Human Rights First will be posting daily reports and analysis that can be found at www.humanrightsfirst.org/us_law/detainees/gitmo_diary/. More information is below.

Thanks,

Amelia Field

Military commission hearings will commence in Guatanamo Bay tomorrow, Wednesday, January 11th. Avi Cover, Senior Associate of the U.S. Law and Security Program at Human Rights First, will be monitoring the trial and posting reactions on a blog on the Human Rights First web page.

The military commissions – which are inconsistent with the laws of war, human rights laws and the U.S. Constitution – resume for the first time in over a year since a federal district court ruled them unlawful. The legality of the commissions is now before the Supreme Court with oral arguments expected in March. The military commissions suffer from a variety of flaws: they are under the complete control of the President, without independent judicial review; they may allow for evidence to be used against the defendant without his ever being apprised of the information; they include charges for offenses that do not exist under the laws of war; and they fail to preclude the use ofevidence obtained through torture.

The two detainees coming before the commissions are 19-year-old Canadian citizen Omar Khadr and a 37-year-old Yemeni named Ali Hamza-Al-Bahlul. Khadr is charged with murder, attempted murder, aiding the enemy and conspiracy to commit offenses trialable by a military commission. Bahlul has been charged with conspiracy, namely creating propaganda for al Qaeda.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

A reminder to fast on the day of Arafa.
Did you think fasting ended with Ramadan? If so, you're mistaken.
It is recommended to fast on this day. Muslim narrated from Abu Qatadah that the Prophet said: Fasting the Day of Arafa (the ninth day of Zul Hijjah) will be credited with Allah by forgiving one's sins of the previous year and the following year.
As well, we should sincerely ask Allah for forgiveness for mistakes on this day as the Prophet said: Allah sets more people free from Hell on the Day of Arafa than on any other day (Muslim).
Have a big family Iftar. The 9th of Zul Hijjah is going to be on a weekday, so everyone should try to get home from work or school early, if possible, to enjoy Iftar together.
Also, read the Prophet Mohammed (peace and blessings be upon him)'s last Sermon that day, since it was on the 9th of Zul Hijjah that it was delivered.

Background: The following comes from my scouring of the Internet to find out how to unlock an AudioVox 5600 (or SMT5600) that was locked to the AT&T (Cingular Blue) network. I had to do this as Cingular does not unlock their phones on the AT&T network, and I needed to put in a local SIM while on a trip to Brazil. T-Mobile will apparently unlock your phones by just calling, and is probably a safer way to go. But for everyone else who is stuck, and doesn’t want to rely on possibly dodgey sites that ask for money via paypal, continue on!

Note: actually doing the following probably voids your warranty (I don’t know as I never read it), and botching it could well render your phone unusable. But it worked for me, even with a few missteps I didn’t include here.

Microsoft people: This doesn’t work for Magneto, but apparently upgrading to Magneto seems to unlock your phone anyway… try it first. BTW, if you’re thinking of upgrading, I don’t recommend it.

A SIM card on the network your AudioVox is locked to. For example, if you’re locked to AT&T (Cingular Blue network) then you’ll need an AT&T SIM card. For people who bought their phone off e-bay or something, find a friend, as you need one of these to proceed!

A SIM card on some other network to make sure things worked. Any network will do. Again, find a buddy.

Here’s what you do:

Plug your AudioVox into your computer via the USB cable that came with it. Open an explorer window via ActiveSync and browse the top level directory of the SmartPhone… you should see directories like Temp and Storage.

Extract aeconfig.zip, say to C:\unlock5600. DO NOT SIMPLY OPEN THE .ZIP AND TRY TO COPY FILES TO YOUR SMARTPHONE, IT DOES NOT WORK! You’ll get a folder named “unlock-all” which contains two directories, StartMenu and Temp, along with a manual. The manual is almost correct for the 5600. What you want to do is:

Put the “Disable Security” file in StartMenu under \Storage\Windows\Start Menu\ in your 5600.

Put “AEConfig.exe” and “DisableSecurity.xml” in Temp in \Temp in your 5600. Do not reboot your 5600, as it will erase these files in \Temp!

Go to Start on your 5600, then select Disable Security and run it. Phase 1 done. If you don’t see it via the start menu, use the File Manager to run it. Sometimes it takes a bit for the Start Menu to re-read the directory and include things.

Open resetSecurity.zip and extract the files on your computer somewhere. I’ll say C:\unlock5600, but feel free to replace that with anything you like.

On your computer, go to Start -> Run and type “cmd” for a DOS prompt. Change directories to the directory you put the files of resetSecurity (e.g. cd c:\unlock5600 using our example).

Run RapiConfig as follows from the cmd prompt:
% RapiConfig.exe /p ResetSecurity.xml
This will unlock your phone to install new apps (needed for the next step).

Confirm it works by putting “CheckLock.exe” in the \Temp dir of your 5600 and running it by going to Start -> File Manager on your AudioVox and selecting CheckLock.exe under \Temp. It should say “Your phone is not locked.”
Phase 2 End.

Open up SPV-Services.zip and copy the files somewhere (say c:\unlock5600).

Copy the Cert.cab into \Temp of your smartphone

From your smartphone Start -> File Manager, browser to \Temp and run Cert.cab. Install the program.

From your computer, run SPVServices.exe. Click on the SIMLock Toggle button and type AGREE. Don’t worry about the “Doesn’t work on AudioVox” as this did for this purpose.

Unlock your AudioVox by clicking on the button. End Phase 3.

Test out your new unlocked AudioVox with a friend’s SIM card on another network (I used T-Mobile). You will need to power down the phone, take out the card, put the new one in, and power up. If you see “Network locked, enter unlock code” then something didn’t work. If you see the normal home page with the carrier’s name, you’re golden.

Troubleshooting:

Unknown error -2147467259 in read operation. I don’t know why this happens. Some people have reported success by re-trying all of the previous steps after rebooting the SmartPhone. Others have suggested it’s because Cert.cab wasn’t installed, just copied over to \Temp. If you get this, please report it in the comments and let us know if you’re able to figure it out. UPDATEA post on the SPV Developers Forum appears to answer this by describing how to: resolve the read error by manually changing two registry keys. A file is included in the post to update the registry. Hat tip to Volkmar!

Can’t copy files to SmartPhone. Remember, you have to extract files to some directory, then copy them. You can’t just copy directly… some lame bug in Windows.

Here is a nice review I found online:
Like many, from Robert Scoble to Narendra Rocherolle, I have become addicted to the Audiovox SMT5600 (called the C500 in Europe). How do I know that ? Simply because I have never used my phone so much in the past!
I used to have a PDA (Palm V), a cell phone, an MP3 player and, whenever I thought about bringing it, a digital camera. For the longest time, I have wanted to reduce the number of devices I had to carry (not mentioning interface and power cables, adapters, etc.). When I got into moblogging (through client Buzznet), getting a decent cameraphone became a must. I had been thinking about getting a Blackberry for a while, especially when their new 7100t came out. However it does not have a camera.
Robert had shown me his phone a number of times, and it seemed to be an interesting option. I found the MPx220 quite interesting (because of the mega-pixel camera) but I read so many bad reviews regarding sound quality, the camera and reception problems that I decided to take a pass (Chris Shipley told me she just got one, so we'll see what she says about it). However this got me into the idea of going for a SmartPhone, on the premise that the "native" integration with Outlook and Windows should work better.
fter a couple of months of using the 5600, to which I added a 256MB Mini-SD, I am quite satisfied of the choice. I had to unlock the phone to use it on the T-Mobile network, and the GPRS configuration took a bit of effort, but it is great. I am using a hosted Exchange account with MailStreet, to which I added the Mobile ActiveSync option. It works perfectly, and so does the access to my Gmail account.

The SMT5600 was only carried by AT&T Wireless, and upon the merger with Cingular, they stopped selling it. I therefore had to buy mine (slightly) used on eBay, and used this unlocking solution.

To provide a bit of balance, here are a few hilights (plus/minus) for both the phone and the SmartPhone O/S (am sure Robert will forward to the relevant people at Microsoft):

+: The phone design is great, the screen is of great quality, and I have found that the keyboard and T9 (the text input software) allowed me to take rough notes in both English and French. The reception is generally much better than my previous phone (the T610).

+: The sound quality is good for phone calls and podcasts, and good enough to listen to CD music. I have not used the speakerphone much, though it seems to work fine. I am using a Jabra FreeSpeak bluetooth headset most of the time, and it works great.

-: The camera is the only slight regret I have. It is a very good VGA camera, but more often than not, I wish I had a 1.3 megapixel resolution like the Nokia 6630. You can clearly see the difference on this scene: SMT 5600 vs. Nokia 6630.

+: The SmartPhone O/S is quite well implemented (except the boot, a bit slow). I found the UI very easy to get used to and the library of programs quite rich (but for a backup solution, see below). Essentially I am now using my phone as a mini laptop, sometimes not even taking my Tablet PC with me if I know that I only need to take a few notes (the test was to take raw notes of that event).

+: The implementation of Outlook (email, calendar, tasks, contacts), Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer are definetely good enough. They might be a tad more functional, but this might impact speed and memory consumption. Posting pictures to my moblog can be done by email with a few clicks, which is cool.

-: I just wish I could send multiple pictures in one email. And also, it would be great to be able to rotate a picture just after shooting it, and save it with the new angle.

-: The biggestlack flaw in this O/S is the fact that there is no bundled backup/restore solution. One day, my phone completely froze and I had no choice but hard reset it, which means kiss goodbye to data and configuration. Data were synchronised on my PCs, but not the settings. Here went two hours of reconfiguration of the phone... The next day, I uploaded Sprite Backup, and saved the settings of my phone to my Mini-SD card and my PC. I resetted the phone and restored the whole lot, with a bit of work required.

-: The other functionality (which like backup/restore is part of Windows CE) is the ability to synchronize folders automatically. It is a bit of a bummer to have to manually download podcasts and upload photos.

-: More of a detail, but it should be possible to configure the usage of a bluetooth headset per profile, or at least, not transfer calls to the BT headset when I am in headset profile, listening to music/podcasts. This means that you have to put your BT headset on, replacing the "regular" one in order to answer a call. Quite inconvenient, and risky if you are driving. This shades/BT headset combo might eventually be a solution.

-: It has not happened yet but I am worried about getting O/S updates on my phone since it is not carried by T-Mobile. I understand that it is carriers' decision to update O/S "over the air:", and I have a feeling that I am going to feel sorry about this.

+: A very neat feature: setting your profile to Automatic means that the phone will set itself in Meeting mode during meeting times set in your calendar.

+: MSN Messenger on the phone is great but I just loaded Agile Messenger, which is a Trillian for SmartPhone. Way cool (thanks to Russ and Mike, MOMO founders, who showed it to me).

I will probably switch to a phone with a higher definition camera in a few months, but I really hope to be able to stick to the SmartPhone O/S. Even if it crashes/freezes every now and then (once a week ?), I make sure to shutdown the phone every night, and it really worked for me so far.

Millions of blogs.Thousands of nominees.151 finalists.Thirty winners.
It's now the sixth year of the world's most established weblog awards, the Bloggies™. Personal Web publishing never stops growing, and that means this year the public will have more contenders than ever to select from when choosing the year's best weblogs. 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 have their champions; now it's time for you to do your part for 2006. Read on.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Request From Pastor Warren Clark:
I am pastor of First United Church (UCC) of Tampa, and a leader of the Tampa Bay Friends of Human Rights. I have been visiting with Sami Al Arian in jail almost every week since March. Dr. Al Arian will remain in jail... and in legal limbo, unless there is a broad call for his release. I am asking you to write a letter asking for fair procedures in the resolution of the case against Dr. Al Arian. He should be released on bail while awaiting next moves by the government. I have seen first hand the heavy emotional toll on his family. They have borne this burden amazingly well, but the humane thing to do is to at least let him be with his family. I would also urge whatever appropriate organization or group that you are a part of to make a public statement, as Amnesty has done.
This Friday, Jan. 6, at 9:30AM at the Federal Courthouse on north Florida Ave., the judge will hold a hearing of determination about next legal steps in this case. Leaders from national Muslim organizations will be here to call for a fair and just resolution of the case. If you could join with them, that would be a powerful statement. I know they would be very happy to have you join them. If you are unable to come this Friday ( I know how short a notice this is!) but would make a public statement, I would be happy to read it for you on Friday, as I have been asked to speak. Or I could include your name or organization in a reading of those calling for just procedures in the resolution of the case.
Here is where to write letters or send statements:
E-MAIL, CALL and WRITE Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales
E-MAIL: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov
PHONE: 202-514-2001 and 202-353-1555
MAIL: U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
The other decision maker is Paul Perez, Chief Prosecutor. Please ask him to drop all charges and free Dr. Al-Arian.
Any e-mail can be sent to steve.cole@usdoj.gov
Ask that it be forwarded to Paul Perez
Please CC to me, Pastor Warren Clark, at FLHIST@aol.com Thanks.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Public Statement
AI Index: AMR 51/204/2005 (Public)
News Service No: 345
20 December 2005
USA: Amnesty International seeks fair procedures in resolution of case against Dr Sami Al-Arian
Amnesty International notes the recent acquittal by a jury of the most serious of terrorism-related charges against former Florida professor Sami Al-Arian, and urges fair procedures in the resolution of outstanding charges against him, on which the jury deadlocked.
Dr Sami Al-Arian was arrested in February 2003 charged with conspiring to aid Palestinian Islamic Jihad to maim and kill Israelis, charges he has always denied. For much of his pre-trial detention, Al-Arian was held in near solitary confinement in a maximum security prison in harsh conditions. Amnesty International raised concern with the US government that the conditions under which he was held as a pre-trial detainee were unnecessarily punitive. These included heavy shackling during visits with his attorneys, denial of adequate exercise, limits on writing materials and visits with his family and other deprivations.
Amnesty International urges the US authorities to ensure that Sami Al-Arian is afforded humane treatment and due process in any further proceedings taken against him. Amnesty International notes that the jury had found insufficient evidence after a protracted trial to convict on the most serious charges, including conspiracy to maim or murder, finding no link between Al-Arian’s fundraising activities in support of Palestinians and knowledge of or intent to commit acts of violence. Noting the sweeping nature of some of the remaining charges, the organization urges the government to seriously consider whether it is in the interests of justice to retry him on those charges.
The government has indicated that it may try to deport Sami Al-Arian instead of retrying him. Should this be the case, Amnesty International urges that Dr Al-Arian be afforded a full and fair opportunity to contest any evidence used in deportation proceedings. As Dr Al-Arian is a stateless Palestinian, it is essential that the United States ensures his safety and that an appropriate host country can be found.
Given that Dr Al-Arian has not been convicted of any crime after nearly three years in prison – often in harshly punitive conditions – the government should not now leave him in legal limbo during any protracted consideration of his case.
Background Information
Dr Sami Al-Arian is former professor at University of South Florida, Tampa, and was accused of using an academic think-tank as a fundraising front and cover for Palestine Islamic Jihad, which has been involved in suicide bombings in Israel. He and three co-defendants were charged with conspiring to bring about such attacks through actively supporting PIJ. The charges included operating a criminal enterprise, conspiracy to murder and maim people outside the United States and conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization. The prosecution’s case was based on hundreds of pages of transcripts of wiretapped phone calls and faxes dating from the mid 1990s. Al-Arian and co-defendants claimed the money raised went to Palestinian charitable causes and not for violence. Al-Arian was acquitted of 8 of the 17 counts against him, the jury deadlocking on others. Two co-defendants, former Florida graduate student Sameeh Taha Hammoudeh and Chicago resident Ghassam Zayed Ballut were acquitted of all charges. The jury acquitted a third man, Hatim Naji Fariz, on 25 counts and failed to reach a verdict on eight others.
The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, PO Box 53062, Washington DC 20009. Phone: (202) 939-6050, Fax: (202) 265-4574, Toll Free: (800) 368-5788, www.wrmea.com Published by the American Educational Trust, a non-profit foundation incorporated in Washington, DC to provide the American public with balanced and accurate information concerning U.S. relations with Middle Eastern states. Material from the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs may be printed with out charge with attribution to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Subscribe or Unsubscribe Info (http://www.mediausa.net/wrmea/subscribe.html)

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

The University of Kentucky is set to become the site of the first campus chapter of Gamma Gamma Chi -- the only Muslim sorority in America, which was established last April by Althia Collins and Imani Abdul-Haqq, a mother-daughter team from Virginia and North Carolina.
Students at the University of Kentucky are planning to start a Muslim sorority that will stress sisterhood and community service among its members.
Both Muslim and non-Muslim women can join the sorority. The six pillars of the group are Islamic awareness and involvement, educational development, economic development and support of the needy, environmental awareness and involvement, physical and mental health and social awareness and involvement.
So far, five people have expressed interest in joining the Gamma Gamma Chi chapter at UK, according to Boushra Aghil, a junior majoring in secondary education.
"We were thinking about what we could do for girls because we knew our parents wouldn't let us join a sorority," said Boushra, adding that the group will be united by the same goals and principles "We always had an idea to do something like that but we needed something established already to get our foot in the door," added Amira Shalash, 18, a freshman majoring in communications. "I don't think we could do it ourselves."
Amira Shalash, another student says the sorority will help her understand her Muslim friends and get closer to them.
"We want them to have a sorority experience because the reality is that American Muslims are exposed to everything that non-Muslims are exposed to," said Collins, who converted to Islam six years ago. "And the sorority life is one of those things ... That's just a way of helping them have a full experience on campus that doesn't limit them just because of their faith."
"She was interested in having a sorority experience," Collins said. "There are no Muslim sororities out there and for the most part the sororities that are in existence are Christian-based."
"It's very heartening to see the kind of positive response because it's saying, 'Yes indeed, this is an idea whose time has come,'" Collins said.
"Our whole purpose is to give a positive face for Muslim women," said Collins, noting that Non Muslims get only distorted image of Muslim women as through biased media which always portrays them as oppressed. "It's important certainly to have fun but we want them to have it in a structured way ... We are being very mindful of our responsibilities as Muslims, both privately and publicly."
Aghil said that now being involved in the sorority will be a considerable commitment.
"But with that commitment is the ability to actually come together as Muslim sisters and that's been lacking," she said.
"It's a way to portray women in Islam in a brighter light," she said.
Agencies
Source: Islamonline

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Salam,
So I decide to sneak out and go see Munich on my own. I went there solo, I was like it's Monday and no one would be there, IT WAS PACKED!!!
The way I saw the movie is that it was SURPRISINGLY balanced! And for the first time it tackled the true essence of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict without taking sides. He for the first time humanized the targets (Palestinians) and showed them as the real people they are, mind you, the book (vengeance) that the movie is based on was published in 1984 and talks about some of those Palestinian targets have nothing to do with Munich.
The movie also talks about how there are no saints in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, both have their hands filled with blood, "Israel wasn't created by being nice"(a quote from the movie). And at one point they were arguing should they shoot the bodyguards or not, because their targets are the 11 men only, and Steve(one of the assassins) said nothing matter to me but the Jewish blood, while others in his group argued that is the unethical thing to do.
I'm so happy to find such just and balanced movie created by the most famous Jewish director of all time.
I always Liked Spielberg, but now I have a much higher respect for the man.
Check his site out:Spielbergfilms
On a totally different note: check this TRAILER out (American Dreamz).
Salam

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Salam,
For those who live abroad and looking for old Arabic cartoons, check out those 2 ebay stores.
Arabic-DVDs good selsection but doesnt cover enough cartoons ( quality great and profissional ).
Funoon Very profissional and great quality, they have the largest collection of cartoon but abit pricey.
P.s: For those who are fans of Hameedo Shamil, Funoon has Abtal Almala3eb.
Peace